VCAL VIBES

June Bashiruddin

VCAL Teacher/Arts Manager

Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary 

On Friday, 1 November, 17 students from Ms Bashiruddin’s VCAL class spent the day volunteering at the Sanctuary in Barwon Heads. We arrived at 10:00 am and were given a short introduction by Tehree Gordon. She explained that the Sanctuary was set up 30 years ago as a safe home for injured wildlife. Jirrahlinga means ‘Seek a home for a kangaroo’. Besides looking after distressed native wildlife, Tehree has also opened her home to look after people, especially children from distressed situations. 

The temperature on that Friday soared to 34 degrees. We made sure everyone slathered themselves with sunscreen and mosquito spray and took along bottles of water. Then we were allocated jobs to do such as sweeping the paths, washing the rails, pruning trees, raking leaves or bagging mulch. We were treated to a sumptuous morning tea and again we resumed our tasks. Our supervisors were very conscious of the heat and kept it to fairly light duties. Wheelbarrows of leaves and bushes were bagged or redistributed to feed animals or to be used later as mulch. 

Soon lunchtime arrived and a BBQ of hamburgers, sausages and salads awaited us. These were gobbled up quickly. We rested awhile and then were treated to a fabulous interactive experience. The pictures speak for themselves.

Julie Elkin

VCAL Teacher

Future Bricks

Last week, students in Ms Elkin’s VCAL class visited Geelong Technical School to test the hemp bricks they had made during Term 3. They carried out tests for heat and sound transmission, strength and water absorption. They used state-of-the-art data loggers and specifically-engineered equipment to perform these tests. Results were shared and analysed within each group. Students then made a judgement as to whether or not it was feasible to build a house out of hemp bricks. Our tests results showed that it was probably not the best thing to do! However, with the optimum ‘recipe’ and larger bricks, they realised that hemp bricks may be one way to address the growing need for changes in the construction industry, due to the large consumption of energy in the traditional clay-fired brick manufacturing process. The ever-expanding population of Geelong and Victoria is placing more demands on the industry and, with energy usage and climate change in mind, there needs to be an alternative. Maybe it could be the hemp bricks…